Tips For Urgent Care Cleaning In St. Louis

As the weather starts to get cold here in the St. Louis region, you’ll begin to hear people with the sniffles, cough and maybe even sneezing. As the symptoms of cold and flu season started, you’ll also see urgent care facilities walk-in number climb dramatically. 

Cold and flu season each year accounts for millions of visits to healthcare providers. As a cleaning company, one of the many questions that comes up is: How many people left the urgent care sicker than when they walked in? 

The Reality of Urgent Care Facilities

Considering the sheer number of germs that are everywhere, someone can walk out sicker. This HAI, which is “Hospital Acquired Infections,” is showing us that hospitals are not immune to germs. Now, hospitals are cleaner than your office or home. But what makes them different are the hundreds or thousands of people that walk through your facility daily touching door handles, glass, countertops, toilets, sink handles, elevator buttons, etc.. Germs can spread very quickly! 

How To Get Started For Your Urgent Care Facility

Take a hard look around your facility. When was the last time that you had an excellent deep cleaning? How about the counters or cabinets in the exam room or procedure room? Have you looked under or behind the tongue depressor jar in the past three weeks? 

Things to look for: 

• Are the supplies in your janitor’s closet for everyday cleaning, disinfecting or sanitizing? 
• Many germicidal cleaners are registered with the EPA because there are only a few that are effective in killing Clostridium Difficile spores and other germs. 
• Check the expiration dates on all your cleaning supplies. 
• Look under and behind all of those everyday items that don’t get moved. Is it clean there? 

Create A Cleaning Schedule

• After Care Cleaning: Wipe down exam table, counter, patient seating, and let air dry. Replace the table paper and reset the room. Don’t forget to wipe down the door handles. 
• Quarterly Cleaning: Wipe down walls, interior drawers and shelves in cabinets, disinfect trash cans, clean rugs, and floors. Dust, all of those hard, to reach spots. 
• Inspections: Don’t forget to have regular inspections. It works best to designate one to two people to conduct the walkthrough of your facility. Their job is to find things that are getting missed in regular cleanings and other areas that need extra special attention.